FIFA 11 Details

Generally sports games are pretty much the same, year to year. This just makes improving them that much harder because developers have to dig really deep or get pretty creative. FIFA 11 is no exception. The game will be very much the same as FIFA 10 and possibly even similar to FIFA 09 but will feature some little improvements to make a big difference.

major improvements include the usual such as better graphics and player AI but this time, players will have their own ‘personalities’ as it were. Each player will play and behave the way you’d expect them to. This means that all the big stars’ signature moves and traits will be very evident. Drogba, for example will use his strength to overpower defenders whereas Ronaldo will implement some fancy-footwork. Players will also have attacking and defensive work rates which can be set so that a player might be fast to get to the ball but slow to backtrack and defend.

An interesting thing is that users will be able to record a song or chant of your choice and make fans chant it from the stands. What’s great is that the game will be able to make that song/chant sound like it really is being sung by thousands of people. Creating a player is also more realistic now as users can go into far more detail and there are even 10 different body types to choose from over FIFA 10’s 3. There is even concession for extremes such as Peter Crouch or Lio Messi.

Technically, the game is also taking a big step up from its predecessor. The inhuman stopping power of keepers in FIFA 10 was a big criticism of the game so while all the other players will get smarter in the new game, goalkeepers have been dumbed down in an attempt to seem more realistic. Passing has also been improved and deepened. Players will be able to determine the weight distribution and therefore perform far more intricate passes. Anything from a little flick, to a throughball with backspin, to putting spin on a long-pass. the player that you perform the pass with will also determine just how well the pass can be executed.

Definitely sounds like we’re getting closer and closer to that elusive ‘real-life experience’ in FIFA but until then, all I want to see is some gameplay footage. Should be another solid title in the series.